New music: The National ratchets up the intensity with 'Afraid of Everything'

The National
If you're like me, you enjoyed "The Boxer" just fine but thought it paled next to the National's previous release, "Alligator." "Boxer" songs sounded like all momentum, no meat. Just parts that built and built and never seemed to arrive anywhere satisfying.
The band's new album, "High Violet," is on the way, and its first track, "Terrible Love," also is kind of all over the map. But the others that have emerged, "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and now "Afraid of Everyone," are more promising.

The band clearly is making good use of its recording budget. The ghostly guitars, strings and echoing backing vocals lend a funereal vibe to the opening strains and fade into a background hum as woodwinds and brass elbow their way into the mix. Matt Berninger is an inherently compelling vocalist, and "Afraid of Everyone" finds him wandering ever so slightly out of his baritone comfort zone. Maybe not "Alligator"-level, but it'll do: